“Strange Meeting” was written by the British poet Wilfred Owen. A soldier in the First World War, Owen wrote “Strange Meeting” sometime during 1918 while serving on the Western Front (though the poem was not published until 1919, after Owen had been killed in battle). The poem's speaker, who is also a solider, has descended to “Hell.” There, he meets a soldier from the opposing army—who reveals at the end of the poem that the speaker was the one who killed him. The poem is deeply pessimistic as it reflects on the shared humanity of these two men and the broader horrors of war. Though the poem suggests that human beings aren't going to stop fighting anytime soon, it also calls for such violence to be replaced by reconciliation and solidarity.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Strange Meeting”

Lines 1-3

Lines 4-8

Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,
Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.
Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and stared
With piteous recognition in fixed eyes,
Lifting distressful hands, as if to bless.